Commentary

800,000 New Broadband Subscribers

Leichtman Research
Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the largest cable and telephone providers in the U.S., representing about 95% of the market, acquired about 800,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in 1Q
2018.

These top broadband providers now account for 96.5 million subscribers, with top cable companies having 62.2 million broadband subscribers, and top telephone
companies having 34.3 million subscribers, says the report.

Findings for the quarter include:

Overall, broadband additions in 1Q 2018 were 83% of
the 965,000 net adds in 1Q 2017

The top cable companies added about 845,000 subscribers in 1Q 2018 – 84% of the net adds for the top cable companies in 1Q 2017

The top
telephone companies lost about 45,000 subscribers in 1Q 2018 – similar to the net losses in 1Q 2017

Telcos have had combined net broadband losses in each of the
past eight quarters.

At the end 1Q 2018, cable had a 64% market share vs. 36% for Telcos, compared to 61% for cable vs. 39% for Telcos at the end of 1Q 2016.

Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, says that “With the addition of 800,000 subscribers in the quarter, top broadband providers in
the U.S. cumulatively now account for about 96.5 million subscribers. Over the past year, there were about 1,950,000 net broadband adds, compared to about 2,550,000 net adds over the prior
year.”

First Q 2018 Broadband,
LRG

Broadband
Providers

Subscribers at end of 1Q 2018

Net Adds in 1Q 2018

Cable Companies

Comcast

26,249,000

380,000

Charter

24,265,000

362,000

Cox*

5,000,000

40,000

Altice

4,072,600

26,400

Mediacom

1,228,000

19,000

WOW (WideOpenWest)**

743,900

8,700

Cable ONE***

651,550

8,397

Total Top Cable

62,210,050

844,497

Phone Companies

AT&T

15,775,000

56,000

Verizon

6,966,000

7,000

CenturyLink^

5,595,000

(67,000)

Frontier

3,895,000

(43,000)

Windstream

1,004,400

(2,200)

Consolidated^^

785,230

1,548

Cincinnati Bell

310,900

2,200

Total Top Telco

34,331,530

(45,452)

Total Top
Broadband

96,541,580

799,045

Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, May, 2018

Net additions reflect pro forma results from system sales and acquisitions, and reporting adjustments -- therefore, comparing totals in this release to prior releases may not
produce accurate findings, Leichtman Research Group, Inc.